Found a couple of doctors near me in florida and was wondering if anyone had seen them. Theyre in the doctors list and both belong to Advent in Kissemie FL. Recommendations are appreciated.
@Oman - Here’s a link to one post that mentions Dr. Magnuson -
and one for Dr. Haughey -
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FYI to anyone who updates the list. Dr Haughey no longer exists at Advent in Florida, only Dr Magnuson. The person who picked up the phone had to check if the doctor has heard of this condition (ridiculous)
Now I have to run to stapes because they will only accept my med records via fax. 2023, also ridiculous.
My question now is, is it worth going to him for a second opinion when i have no desire to have a robot do my procedure?
Thank you for the information about Dr. Haughey. Here’s a link to his current website. It appears he’s still w/ Advent Health in Celebration, FL: Bruce Haughey, MD | Otolaryngology | Celebration, FL | AdventHealth
I’ll also note (if it’s not on there) that Dr. Magnuson only does robotic surgery, however, when Dr. Hackman’s name first landed on our list it was because he was doing robotic ES surgery, and one member had it done w/ good results. Our members who subsequently saw him around that time found he was willing to also willing to do surgery the “old fashioned way”. You may find the same situation is true w/ Dr. Magnuson but might have to see him to ask. Often the front desk office staff is clueless about this sort of surgical detail.
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@Isaiah_40_31 thank you for that info on Dr Haughey, but thats the page and the number I called from and they said he didnt work there. He was my first choice because I dont want robotic anything - at least not for another 10-20 years. The desk staff was completely clueless, Dr Haughey may even be there and theyre too lazy to look, prob scanning the directory for Dr Howie lol. In any case, I had to fax (its 2023, i had to gotoo staples and pay $35 to fax all my junk) all my medical records and stuff over to them, then wait 48-72 hours and call them back as its a third party service that receives and processes their faxes and then uploads them so the team can review and see if Im worthy to pay them. I did that yesterday, so I guess Im on hold until monday. Ridiculous. And also degrading to the patient.
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Hi @Oman - the fax transmittal is the only way to maintain confidentiality and all medical offices in the US require that or mailed hard copies. I feel your frustration with this process, but HIPAA rules require it. So few doctors know about Eagle’s, and most that I saw dismissed it as a viable cause of any symptoms that I had. After searching through local doctors for 2 years, I had intraoral surgery in Florida, but the surgeon only removed the skinny ends of both styloids. Symptoms improved briefly. Recovery was lengthy and uncomfortable. I went to Dr. Hackman at UNC Health, Chapel Hill, NC for revision surgery. He removed both styloids completely, from incisions in front of my ears. Recovery was easier and faster, though there was some nerve damage that took some time to resolve. Dr. Hackman is an excellent diagnostician and surgeon, and it was well worth my time to travel to NC to consult with him. You may want to consider a second opinion further away from Central Florida before you choose a surgeon.
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@Catmd thats very interesting. HIPPA is so…Not even sure of the word. I can go into any of the offices that Ive visted, in the exam room to wait for the doctor and almost always see the chart or the scan of the last patient in there. The guy who did my abcess surgery, his CBCT machine only sent to one monitor in one exam room which happened to be mine, so I saw a host of scans from others (along with name and phone num) fly by as I was waiting. The office displays a hippa notice, but all data is avail when it shouldnt be most of the time. Healthcare makes so much money, but they cant partner with a company who accepts digital image. Even The new ID process for the govt uses an online system to verify you. And here Blue Cross hasnt changed their hold music in over 30 years. But I digress lol. -
The real question: which doctor worked on you in Florida?.. and thank you for the referral, its not out of the question to travel, it gets closer to the question of where to travel to. Thanks in advance.
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@Oman Dr. Dziegielewski at UF Health in Gainesville did the first surgery. I think he only agreed to do it because one styloid was actually protruding into my throat. There are two surgeons at UF Health in Jacksonville who do the surgery, Dr. Rui Fernandez and Dr. Bunnel. I consulted with Dr. Fernandez and he agreed to the revision surgery, but I could never get staff to schedule it. Waited over a month with no response from anyone to repeated messages. I gave up and faxed all of my paperwork to Dr. Hackman, and his staff called me within 24 hours to schedule the first consult. Some people have reported good results from Dr. Bunnel in Jacksonville, and he apparently has good scheduling people. I was not comfortable with the idea of more intraoral surgery, or with the robotic approach, so I did not contact the doctor in Celebration, even though I live an hour away. At least one person on the forum had a good experience with Dr. Magneson, though, and I think you may be able to search for information on the forum about his work.
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Thanks for the good info. When I call to make the appt again (after my time period has elapsed lol) Im going to press them about Dr Haughey as he is listed still on their site and I also am not yet a fan of surgical robots. I do appreciate the contact up north. I will look into it in turn. Thank you!
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I’m totally in your camp @Oman. I wouldn’t ever consider robotic surgery unless it was the last possible life saving course of action for me.
Many of our members have seen Dr. Hackman for for ES surgery, & w/ very few exceptions, the outcomes have been good to great. He would be a reliable surgical resource for you.
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So heres an update on Dr Haughey/Magnuson, or really their office. The fax I sent them for $35 last wednesday is not there and is not processing and cannot be found. I can drop them off or I can fax them again. They gave me a second number now since its about a 2hr drive to Orlando on the weekdays. They still dont know who Dr Haughey is, they still wont make me an appt without them. This woman put me on hold 4x and came back tell me all 4x that “your records are not here and have not been processed” literally repeating the same thing each time. I asked for a supervisior, she said “We dont have one here, I can try and get you a call back”. Unreal.
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So I called my PCP office and gacve them the records to fax over and Advent just called me. Haugey cant be seen. until xmas week, Magnuson had an opening tomorrow so I will be driving to Kissemie. Wish me luck.
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Hi,
Sorry to hijack this thread but can you describe what kind of nerve damage you had from the surgery.
I’m 1+ year out and my one lingering issue from surgery is pain in the ear incision sites bilaterally. I’ve recently gotten Botox and started gabapentin and it seems to be helping but I’m curious if you had something similar?
Hi @elijah - it sounds like you might have some trigeminal neuralgia? The incisions in front of ears and the moving of nerves to get to styloids can cause damage to the facial nerves. I lost control of one eyelid for several months after the second surgery - I could not close it and had to tape it shut to sleep. The eyelid on the other side works, but it is so sensitive that I have a hard time using eye makeup, and my eyebrow stands at attention all the time. That hasn’t totally resolved. I also have days of jaw pain and some Eustachian tube issues, but I also have TMJD, which may be the culprit for those issues, according to my ENT. You may want to try some facial massage to stimulate that area and to break up scar tissue. Some med-spas offer that service, and it really helped me heal quicker. You can use warm compresses and massage the area yourself, too, but it feels really good when someone else does it for you. There are some supplements that help nerves heal, too.
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What a fiasco do you, @Oman! I wonder what goes on in some medical offices that makes the front desk operation seem so inept. I understand bigger offices get very busy but regardless, the patient on the phone being helped should be given primary attention until questions are answered & not be put on hold repeatedly w/o explanation then basically get no help.
Very curious about the situation w/ Dr. Haughey. Perhaps he’s been promoted to dept head or has more responsibility than in the past making him less accessible. One would still expect the office staff would at least know his name!!
I’m glad you got an appt w/ Dr. Magnisson so quickly. Maybe that’s divine intervention for all you’ve been through. 
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I did find out that the phones are also answered by a third party by the medical scheduler who gave me my appt, not like that helps anything lol, but is what it is. And just from my conversation with her and prior:
- I was told Magnuson had no availability until end of Oct. by whomever answers their phones and asks for the fax
- I was told by the scheduler that Dr Haughey still works there and studied under Dr Magnuson, and that they also have a 3rd guy there whos name I cant recall sadly. Maybe Padula.
- The appt she was going to make me was Dec 13, i told her thats no good, its a 2nd opinion and im already on sched for Dec 6 surgery (whether I keep that date or not, up in the air, waiting for billing to tell me costs). This has been the only thing getting me seen earlier by any offices btw. I tell them Im scheduled, which I am, and they work me in before my surgery date. They all share some systems, so having that on the books is a dark help. Anyway, all of a sudden, An appt opened up next week, and then tomorrow was totally possible. So I took it. Yep.
- I get my botox injections in about an hour, i didnt expect to get an appt there tomorrow! I dont have a number except the main one to reschdule. Misfud said I should keep getting these shots so I assume it wont make a diff, and Im not worrying about it. Also yep lol.
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Hope the botox injections help, and that your appt is helpful!
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So, I saw Dr Magnusson yesterday. He was very nice, very kind. The office staff was in his dept was the same. His assistant also the same. Everyone was pretty much wonderful. The hospital is gorgeous as its in the town that Disney built and Ive never seen a more beautiful place to be sick in my tour of 20ish hospitals lifetime (not for me, but for family). My appt was relativley on time and I could be happier administratively with how things went. After the appt was over, I told him that he had a community of folks online who held him in high regard and he looked totally shocked for the first time in the appt and replied “really?” - so theres that!
Now to the diagnosis. He came in after the tech, after the asst. He thanked me for the most comprehensive data sheet any patient has ever provided - i carry an accounting of everything that I can since this started, its about 4-5 pages now and it saves me from telling the story over and over - and then went on to say:
“You do not have Eagles. I would not operate on you for eagles because there isnt anything in your body that I could remove that willfix this for you. Please dont let anyone else tell you that you have this and definitely don’t let them cut you open because it will just be horrible pain with no result”. I literally dropped everything in my hands onto the floor. He brought up my scan and showed me that nothing was pushing on anything else. He said that I dont display the #1 symtom, foreign body in throat, and without that, theres nothing else that matters. He said basicallly the styloid calcifies untill it pushed on the voicebox and thats usually the onset of problems. Without that, no eagles. He did pick up on the prednisone helping as he went through my 5 pager before he came into the room. I have maybe 1 line in there about prednisone from 2 years ago, so I know it was buried in the text and that tells me he actually read this thing. So he advisedme to go back to my PCP and work out some sort of steroids dose or to have her send me to a Rhumetologist to accomplish the same, he suggested auto immune, which I just tested negative for and went on to say what I already know. Steroids reduce inflamation, if they help then your problem is you have some kind of inflamation somewhere that needs to be found, but please do not let anyone perform a styloidectomy on you by any means.
I feel like I started in 1 teams end zone as the football, they kicked me right in the head to the other teams end zone and the away team kicked me right back in the head. Holy FSH. Didnt see any of this coming. Not sure what will happen next. Maybe my GP will throw a flag and say get a 3rd opinion. Thats where Im at so far guys.
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GET A 3rd OPINION 
Leaning on one particular symptom (such as foreign body feeling in throat) as the diagnostic indication of ES is WRONG. Many of us did not have that symptom or a sore throat. ES symptoms can manifest extremely differently in each of us.
Though I’m thankful for Dr. Magnusson’s great bedside manner & thoroughness in reading the info you gave him, I’m terribly disappointed that he puts so much weight on one symptom & will adamantly declare he’s wrong about a styloidectomy not helping you. If your styloid(s) is/are long & you’re symptomatic with any of the symptoms known to be caused by ES, getting those buggers removed is the only hope of symptoms recovery. Symptoms can me masked by meds but that’s a bandaid not a cure.
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He actually did say they weren’t long enough to justify a trial and error surgery. Not sure what to do. The next specialist is over 4hours away as far as I know. Waiting to hear from my GP.
Didnt mean to sound disrespectful, - i just think that the more doc’s i visit the more conflicting opinions i will get and more out of pocket money will be lost, just trying ot find the best path.
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